David Runcorn The gift of tears
“Suppressed, hidden, apologised for, writer and speaker David Runcorn asks us to look again at how God can use our tears”
The article refers to photographs of tears by Rose-Lynn Fisher; you can see some of them here.
Rachel Mann The Limits of Sex: The C of E, priggishness, and its violence against LGBT couples
Justin Welby Church Times Religious communities — a work in progress
“They face serious challenges — but there are signs of hope and renewal, says the Archbishop of Canterbury”
Excellent article by Rachel Mann. She really gets to identify not only the elephant in the room, but the details of the problem.
She points out the ignorance of the current position- how can you forbid something if you can’t even define what it is?
Rachel Mann might have spotted one elephant in the room but with a herd of them in there, it’s more surprising she only saw the one. Fundamentally, Anglicanism doesn’t have a theological framework for sex. Catholicism has traditionally seen sex as simply an agent for encouraging procreation and sinless when deployed exclusively for that purpose; sinful in all other circumstances (which is what makes contraceptives sinful). By cleaving blindly to the question of purpose, Catholicism can largely avoid contemplaton of issues of pleasure and emotional comfort. That’s theologically lazy and unhelpful but Anglicanism is in a far worse state because,… Read more »
Kate, I think it might be that Anglicanism has assumed for a long time that having a theology of marriage is the same as having a theology of sex. Have you wondered why the anti-LGBTI voices have man-woman marriage as their great shibboleth, and the continued absurdity of the church claiming that sex is only permissible in marriage while building up great walls of resistance to letting same-sex couples have access to this dignified estate with rites and blessings? You’re right that the acceptance of contraception does create some dilemmas, but it hasn’t exactly prompted any more fundamental rethinking. Instead… Read more »
Ms. Mann’s excellent article reminds me of some acquaintances of mine, who are orthodox in a non-Christian religion, and some of the legalistic theological contortions they go through to maintain conformance with their religion’s non-sexual rules. Some contortions of which involve fishing line. If a religious model no longer works for most of the faithful, maybe the leadership needs to listen to what the Divine might be trying to tell them, instead of making the faithful dance more furiously on a smaller and smaller pin. But I guess that makes me a heretic, apostate, and schismatic. Not to mention, I’ve… Read more »
Perhaps this booklet published by Chief Rabbi Mirvis will be of interest to anglicans, as the bishops contemplate making what they seem modestly to call Teaching Document. Perhaps it will inspire godly and prayerful appropriate action and support for school and college students from leaders in the Church as well ?
https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/chief-rabbi-publishes-groundbreaking-guidance-for-lgbti-students-in-orthodox-schools/#gs.XJZgIo4
The booklet can be found here: https://chiefrabbi.org/lgbtwelfare/
Kudos to the Chief Rabbi, for being able to recognize the humanity of all of God’s children within the orthodox teachings of his faith.
” … but when homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying is carried out with ‘justifications’ from Jewish texts, a major chilul Hashem (desecration of God’s name) is caused.”
Thank you, Rabbi Mirvis, and Amen! Using “God’s words” to attack God’s children is a sure way to turn people away from God — and does not “correct” them or make them “see the light”. In numerous contexts.
L’shana Tovah!
Happy (Jewish) New Year!
L’shana Tovah!
Happy New Year!Indeed Peter, thank you !
and it’s excellent… see Shulli on her time at school: ‘In hindsight it’s sad that I had to spend all day acting’.
It is excellent: do similar documents exist for church schools?
I am reminded by a quote from Bp Gene Robinson, prompted by the CofE demands for celibacy in gay relationships of priests and bishops: “I don’t care whether any couple, gay or straight, has sexual intimacy or not. That’s not my business. That’s their business. But to require someone to give up this piece of one’s life, which is so central to who each of us is as a human being, just seems, it seems cruel, and it also, it bespeaks something that I think is not talked about enough around the issue of gay sexuality, which is that gay… Read more »